This year’s winner of the Gerald W. McEntee Scholarship is someone who defends workers' rights, supports her community and is deeply involved in her union.
The 19 presidential candidates who participated in the AFSCME Public Service Forum on Saturday disagreed on a range of topics, but they all agreed on one issue – our country needs a federal law that expands and protects collective bargaining rights for all public service workers.
The work Joe Martinez does for the Los Angeles County Fire Department is emblematic of countless AFSCME members: he’s never in the spotlight and he’s always under pressure while lives are on the line.
When a harsh, disruptive lighting change gave employees watery eyes and headaches, WFSE Local 872 members took action. Their collective voices and strategy convinced management to do the right thing and correct the problem.
“The agency went to LED lighting, which was a good thing,” said Alan Bogner, Brownfields Manager and Vice President of WFSE Local 872. “But the lighting that they put in came with a pretty wide range of brightness level, and they unfortunately set the level at high, at maximum, throughout the entire building. It was just too much. It was way too bright.”
With former Vice President Joe Biden confirming his participation on Tuesday, the AFSCME-sponsored presidential candidate forum on Aug. 3 will be the biggest event of its kind in our union’s history.
Today, the latest attempt by the Trump administration to repeal the Affordable Care Act will unfold at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans, where oral arguments in Texas v. Azar will be heard. The case threatens the future of the ACA, which provides health care to millions of Americans.
We stood together and won pay increases, protected health care, raised the minimum wage and more! Our 2019-2021 collective bargaining agreements take effect this month. Download your contract below.